Mud pump



A. A. ASHTON Nov. 14, 1944.

Filed oct. 25, 1942 ATTORNEY.

Patented Nov. 14, .1944

MUD PUMP Albert A. Ashton. Houston. Tex., assignor to Emseo Derrick & Equipment Company, Los Angeles, Calif., a corporation of California Application October 26, 1942, Serial No. 463,316 i claims. (ci. s- 177) My invention relates to reciprocating pumps, and relates in particular to an improvement in double acting duplex pumps of the type employed in the oil drilling industry for the purpose of pumping drilling mud under high pressure.

It is an object of the invention to provide a pump of this character, which is rigid and amply strong for the service for which it is designed, but is extremely light in weight as compared to many pumps which have been used and are now in use, of no greater capacity.

It is an object of the invention to provide a pump having pistons arranged to be reciprocated through the use of piston rods which are connected to a power source, this pump comprising essentially a front section and a rear section of similar form, these sections being connected together by the application of welds located in a plane or in planes which cross the axes of 'the pump cylinders, these welds being disposed between the front and rear sections and joining the same in a rigid lightweight hollow pump structure.

A further object of the invention is to provide in a pump structure of this type front and rear sections adapted to be secured together by use of welds, in a spaced arrangement determined in accordance with the length of the cylinder liner to be employed therein which in turn is controlled by the length of stroke of the pump piston. For example, these front and rear sections may be connected rigidly together in a pump adapted to receive a liner of a length to accommodate a twelve-inch or fourteen-inch stroke, or these sections may be Welded together in positions to receive a longer liner, for example, one which will accommodate an eighteen-inch stroke. In the invention the front and rear sections have pump chambers which provide mouths or openings to. receive the end portions of the liners, there being open spaces betweenthe front and [rear sections across which the liners extend, and in which the liners are exposed. A number of additional advantages result from this arrangement. The amount of metal used in the pump is reduced, and the intermediate portions of the liner are .exposed or have communication with the -exterior of the pump, making it possible for the pump operator to readily observe any leakage Vwhich may occur along the exterior of the pump liner from the pump chambers disposed at the ends of the liner. Being thus observed, the leakage'may be corrected by tightening up on the packing or replacing the same, thereby avoiding the cutting of metal parts as the result of a continued flow of mud under high pressure through the leakage paths.

A further object of the invention is to provide a simple pump section which maybe employed in the manner described herein, this pump section having a U-shaped hollow member comprising a lateially extending hollow inlet body with hollow arms extending upward from the ends of and rear pump sections spaced apart in axial direction, to show the cooperative relation of the front and rear sections.

Fig. a 1s an enlarged sectional view of Fig. 1,

taken as indicated by the line 3 3' therein, a portion of the view being broken away to show the interior form of the valve pots employed in duplicate in a pump section.

Fig. 4 is a section taken as indicated by the line 4-4 of Fig. 3, to show the manner in which the cylinder liners are disposed and held in the mouths.

In Fig. l I show a power pumping device comprising a power unit I0 and a pump Il of duplex double acting type. This pump II has therein a pair of cylinders or liners I2 in side by side relation. As shown in Fig. 4, each of these liners I2 receives a piston I3 which is reciprocated through a piston rod I4, these piston rods I4 extending through packing means I5 ycarried `by the end wall i6 of the pump II disposed contiguous to the power unit I0, as shown in Fig. -1.

It will be understood that this power unit IIl has Y therein the customary power driven means for reciprocating the piston rods I4, which need not be shown, since the present invention relates to the iiuid end of the device shown in Fig. 1, namely, the pump II.

The pump Ii has a front section I1, and a rear section I8, these sections being in many respects symmetrical, and involving differences as will be hereinafter pointed out. These sections l1 and I 8 are shown in perspective in Fig. 2, in axial relation so that their points of similarity and dii'- ferences may be observed. Each of these sections, as clearly brought out in Figs. 2 and 3, has a hollow U-shaped member I 8 comprising a bottom laterally extending hollow section 2li. reierred to as the hollow inlet member 20, and upwardly extending hollow legs 2I disposed at and connected to the ends of the hollow inlet member 20, these side portions 2| comprising valve pots for the pump sections, the lower ends of which valve pots communicate with the inlet member 20, and the upper ends of these valve pots'ZI having openings 22 of such size that intakes and discharge valves may be passed therethrough into the valve pots 2|, covers 23 being provided for the openings 22.

Each of the sections I1 and I8 includes a pair of juxtaposed pump chambers 24 of cylindric form. These pump chambers are disposed between the valve pots 2| and are positioned above the hollow inlet member 20. The walls of the `chambers 24 merge with the walls of the valve pots .20, and each chamber 24 communicates through an opening 25 with an intermediate portion of the interior space of a valve pot 2 I. Above the pump chambers 24, each section I1|8 has a hollow outlet member 26, shown as a tubular wall, communicating with the upper portions of the valve pots 2 I. Each of the hollow inlet members 20 has a short cylindric wall 21 dening an opening 28, communicating with the interior of kthe hollow inlet member, as best shown in Fig. 4.

the length of stroke of the pistons to be employed in the pump of which the sections I1 and I8 are to become a part. In this procedure of joining the sections I1 and I8, tubular members 30 and 1I may be interposed respectively between the` connections 21 and 29 of the hollow inlet members 20 `and the hollow outlet members 26, and these tubular members 3D and 3| are joined with the connections 21 and 29 by use of annular bodies of welded metal 32 and 88, applied by use of the electric arc or Oxy-acetylene ilame. When these welds are formed, the sections I1 and I 8 are rigidly connected together. The space between the pump chambers 24 of section I1 and the pump chambers 24 of the section I8 depends upon the spatial relation of the sections I1 and I8, which in turn is determined by the lengths of the inserted tubular members 36 and 3|. Each of the pump chambers 24, as best shown in Fig. 4, has an annular liner receiving mouth 34, and the liners I2 are moved through openings 35 in the leftward ends of the pump chambers 24 of the section I1 into positions, as shown in Fig. 4, wherein the end portions of the liners will extend through the mouths 34 of the chambers 24, and the intermediate portions of the liners I2 will extend across the space between the adjacent ends of the pump chambers 24, as also shown in Fig. 1. Covers 36 are provided for the openings 35, -and the liners I2 are held in position and forced rightwardly so as to compress packing rings 31 and 38, Fig. 4, by` hollow frames 39 pressed rightward by screws 40 which pass through the covers `36.

Means are provided for connecting the hollow inlet members 20 with delivery piping through which the mud is carried to the pump. This means comprises a hanged tubular inlet 4| projecting leftward from the hollow inlet member 20 of the front section I1, as shown in Figs. 2 and 4, so that the delivery piping 42 may be conveniently connected thereto as shown in Fig. 1. Also, outlet means are provided for connecting the hollow outlet members 26 with discharge piping, through which the pumped fluid is conveyed to the rotary hose of the well drilling system. This outlet means consists of a flanged outlet fitting 42, formed integrally with and communicating with the central portion of the tubular member 3|. As shown in Fig. 1, an outlet T 43 is ordinarily connected to the outlet fitting 42, this T 43 having a surge chamber 44 connected to the upper connected to the discharge piping 45, the other branch ofthe T being closed by a blind flange 46.

As hereinbefore explained, the capacity of a pump employing the sections I1 and I8, is determined in part by the spacing of the sections I1 and I8 to accommodate liners oi' a selected length. In the pump II, shown in Figs. l and 4, the liners I2 are relatively long, and the pump, accordingly, has relatively high capacity due to the length of the piston stroke. For a shorter liner I2, the lengths of the tubular members 30 and 3| are decreased accordingly so that the sections I8 and I1 will be brought closer together, and for a liner of minimum length, the section 30 may be entirely eliminated and an extremely short section 8| may be employed, under which circumstances the tubular connections 21 of the sections I1 and I8 will be brought substantially into positions of abutment and will be welded directly together by the application of an annular body of welded metal.

Where the pump is to be operated against extremely high pressures, connecting bars 41 and 48 are provided, these bars 41 being formed in cooperative relation on the sections I1 and I8. above and below the chambers 24, and being con nected together by means incorporating bodies of welded metal. Such means, where the sections I1 and I8 are spaced apart, include inserted bars 50 of proper length, the ends of which are joined to the bars 41 and 48 by welds 5|. It will be understood that when the sections I1 and vI4 are connected together in their closest relation, the ends of the bars 41 and 48 will be substantially in abutment and will be welded directly together. Feet 52 are shown on the lower part of the front section I1, on opposite sides of the central vertical plane of the pump II, for connection to the skids 53 of the power pump assem bly shown in Fig. 1.

As shown in Fig. 3, each valve pot 2| has therevin an annular inlet valve seat 55 through which communication of the inlet member 28 with the opening 25 of the associated pump chamber A24 is obtained, and each valve pot 2| has above the opening 25 an outlet valve seat 58. Inlet and outlet valves 51 and 58 are respectively secured in the valve seats 55 and 56.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a double acting duplex pump having pistons adapted to be reciprocated through piston rods connected to a power source, and a pair of removably secured liners to'receive said pistons, the combination of front and rear pump sections, each of said pump sections having a, pair oi juxtaposed pump chambers formed with liner receiving mouths in which opposite end portions of said liners are received, a transverse hollow inlet member below said pump chambers, a trans- `as to form a rigid pump structure comprising annular bodies of welded metal connecting said hollow inlet members together and connecting said hollow outlet members together, said pump l also embracing means to connect the interiors of said inlet members and said outlet members respectively to intake and discharge pipes.

2. In a double acting duplex pump having pistons adapted to be reciprocated through piston rods connected to a power source, and a pair of removably secured liners to receive said pistons, the combination of: front and rear pump sections, each of said pump sections having a pair of juxtaposed pump chambers formed with liner receiving mouths in which opposite end portions o1' said liners are received, a transverse hollow inlet member below said pump chambers, a transverse hollow outlet member above said pump chambers, means forming inlet valve seats connecting said inlet members with said pump chambers, and means forming outlet valve seats connecting said pump chambers with said outlet member; and means connecting said front and rear sections together in cooperative relation so as to form a rigid pump structure comprising tubular fluid conveying members and annular bodies of welded metal connecting said hollow inlet members together and connecting said hollow outlet members together, said'tubular members being arranged between said sections above and below said pump chambers, and the length of said tubular members determining the spacial relation of said sections, and said pump also embracing means to connect the interiors of said inlet members and said outlet members respectively to intake and discharge pipes.

3. In a double acting duplex pump having pistons adapted to be reciprocated through piston rods connected to a power source, and a pair of removably secured liners to receive said pistons, the combination of: iront and rear pump sections. each of said pump sections having a pair oi' juxtaposed pump chambers formed with liner receiving mouths in which opposite end portions of said liners are received, a transverse hollow inlet member below said pump chambers, a transverse hollow outlet` member above said pump chambers, means forming inlet valve seats connecting said inlet members with said pump chambers, and means forming outlet valve seats connecting said pump chambers with said outlet member; and means connecting said front and rear sections together in cooperative relation so as to form a rigid pump structure comprising an nular bodies of welded metal connecting said hollow inlet members together and connecting said hollow outlet members together, said pump also embracing means to connect the interior of said outlet members to a discharge pipe and means to connect the hollow inlet member of said front section to an intake pipe.

4. In a double acting duplex pump having pistons adapted to be reciprocated through piston rods connected to a power source, and a pair of removably secured liners to receive said pistons. the combination of: front and rear pump sections, each of said Dump sections having a pair of juxtaposed pump chambers formed with liner receiving mouths in which opposite end portions of said liners are received, a transverse hollow inlet memberbelow said pump chambers, a transverse hollow outlet member above said pump chambers, means forming inlet valve seats vconnecting said inlet members with said pump chambers, and means yforming outlet valve seats connectingsaid pump chambers with Vsaid outlet member; and means connecting said front and rear sections together in cooperative relation so as to form a rigid pump structure comprising tubular fluid conveying members and annular bodies of welded metal connecting said hollow inlet members together and connecting said-hollow outlet members together, said tubular members Abeing arranged between said sections above and below said pump chambers, the length of said tubular members determining the spacial relation of said sections, said pump also embracingmeans to connect the interior of said, outlet members to adischarge pipe and means to connectthe hollow inlet member of said frontsection to an intake pipe.

5. In a double acting duplex; pump having pistons adapted to be reciprocated through piston rods connected to a power source, and a pair oi removably secured liners to receive said pistons, the combination of: front and rear pump sections, each of said Dump sections having a pair of juxtaposed pump chambers formed with liner receiving mouths in which opposite end portions of said liners are received, a hollow U-shaped body comprising a transverse hollow inlet member positioned below said pump chambers and a pair oi' valve pots extending upward from the ends of said hollow inlet members along the sides of the respective pump chambers, the intermediate portions of said valve pots communicating with said pump chambers, and each ofsaid valve pots having therein an inlet valve seat below and an outlet valve seat above the point of communication of the valve pot with a pump chamber, and a hollow outlet member communicating with the interiors of said valve pots above said outlet valve seats; and means connecting said front and rear sections together in cooperative relation so as to form a rigid pump structure comprising annular bodies of welded metal connecting said hollow in, let members together and connecting said hollow outlet members together, said pump also embracing means to connect the interiors of said inlet members and said outlet members respectively to intake and discharge pipes.

6. In a double acting duplex pump having pistons adapted to be-reciprocated through piston rods connected to a power source, and a pair of removably secured liners to receive said pistons. the combination of: front and rear pump sections. each of said pump sections having a pair of juxtaposed pump chambers iormed with liner receiving mouths in which opposite end portions of said liners are received, a hollow U-shaped body comprising a transverse hollow inlet member positioned below said pump chambers and a pair of valve pots extending upward from the ends of said hollow inlet members along the sides of the respective pump chambers, the intermediate portions of said valve pots communicating with said pump chambers, and each of said valve pots having therein an inlet valve seat below and an outlet valve seat above the point of communication of the valve pot with a pump chamber, and a hollow outlet member communicating with the interiors of said valve pots above said outlet valve seats; and means connecting said front and rear sections together in cooperative relation so as to form a rigid pump structure comprising t ular iluid conveying members and annular bod es of welded metal connecting said hollow inlet members together and connecting said hollow outlet members together, said tubular member being arranged between said sections above and bliw said pump chambers, the length of said tub ar members determining the spacial relation of said sections, said pump also embracing means to connect lthe interior of said outlet members to a discharge pipe and means to connect ther hollow inlet member of said front section to an intake pipe.

'7. In a double acting duplex pump having pistons adapted to be reciprocated through piston rods connected to a power source, and a pair of removably secured liners to receive said pistons, the combination of: front and rear pump sections, each of said pump sections having a pair of juxtaposed pump chambers formed with liner receiving mouths in which opposite end portions of said liners are received; a hollow U-shaped body comprising a transverse hollow inlet member positioned below said pump chambers and a pair of valve pots extending upward from the ends of said hollow inlet members along the sides of the l respective pump chambers, the intermediate portions o! said'valve pots communicating with said pump chambers, and each of said valve pots having therein an inlet valve seat below and an outlet valve seat above the point of communication of the valve pot with a pump chamber, and a hollow outlet member communicating with the interiors of said valve pots above said outlet valve seats; means connecting said front and rear sections together in cooperative relation so as to form a rigid pump Structure comprising annular bodies of welded metal connecting said hollow inlet members together and connecting said hollow outlet members together, said pump also embracing 

